Personality Problem
by PurpleHeroBanjo
Summary: After manny is hospitalized, he finds himself switching between 4 personalities. Can he find a way to get him back to normal? Please R&R
1. Sick

It was a dark stormy day in Miracle City. The weather had been bad, recently. At one middle school in the big town, a boy in a black jacket and a yellow and orange striped shirt was at his locker. His belt buckle had a T symbol on it. The teenager had a noticeable scar over his left eye, and he looked drained like he had little to no energy left. He closed his locker, but then he felt something poke the back of his head. "Hey, Manny," he looked over his shoulder, seeing a girl that was nearly his height. She had blue hair and red goggles on her head, and she was wearing a white shirt and a red skirt that had suspenders on them. "Hey, Frida…" Manny coughed while looking at his best friend. She lost her cheery tone by the time she saw the front of him. "Whoa, Manny! What happened to you?" Frida asked, seeing how he looked like this assuming he only had one hour of sleep for energy at the moment.

"Nothing's happened. Just was up all night," Manny answered boredly. So far lately he hadn't been feeling like doing any evil kinds of acts, any criminal things to do or to stop, since the police handled them before he got the chance, since they were so small lately. He began coughing again somewhat violently. "You should go see the nurse…" Frida insisted. She didn't like to see her friend in this condition, let alone near a state that he couldn't stay on his own two feet. "I-I went to the doctor the other day… I'm going to go to the doctor again after school. Don't worry about me, Frida, I've survived worse," the teenage boy smiled, wanting to reassure that he will be fine and get over this easy. "Well, alright. We have to practice this new song after school. I'll see you later," she said before walking away to get to her next class. Manny viewed the empty hallways and just went his separate direction, just repeating to himself mentally to get through the school day.

Manny had gotten through maybe another class and a half, but while sitting at his desk, he was starting to feel like he was burning. The teacher was speaking aloud from a book, while Manny was noticing his vision slightly blurring, and his hearing messing up. He covered his mouth when he began coughing, trying to keep quiet, but every second just felt like he was standing in a burning building that only kept getting hotter and hotter. He was starting to think thta he couldn't handle the next two classes in this condition. "Teacher, can I be excused to go to the nurse?" he requested. The teacher took a small glance at him. His student was now partially pale, and there was at least ten minutes left in the current session, anyway. "Yes, you may," he answered, watching the student leave the classroom immediately.

When Manny entered the empty hallway, everything was just getting blurrier and blurrier. He wasn't even halfway to the nurse's office when he leaned against the wall nearby, panting, looking down at his shaking hands. Before he even could realize it, he was on the floor. Everything began to black out. He fell unconscious, though someone else entered the hallway, and had seen him on the floor, having witnessed most of his weird behavior in the hall.

Manny coughed once he began to reawaken. His vision wasn't in much better condition. He still felt awful, but he noticed the sound of a siren blaring. He tried to sit up. Before he could, a hand was put on his chest to keep him down. "Hey, chico, calm down. Do you have anyone you want us to contact? A legal guardian or a parent?" the paramedic asked, wanting to know if there was anyone to call for this kind of problem. Manny coughed, just lying back, staring at the ceiling. "M-my Grandpapi…" he mumbled weakly, since his dad was away on one of a common many business trips that lasted a day or two at most. "Alright, Manny. Just relax. Your friend already gave us your information," the paramedic stated before leaving his side to get back to the front of the ambulance. Manny heard radio chatter while all he could do was stare at the ceiling.

After ten minutes of transportation, Manny found himself stuck in the ICU at the hospital. He looked down at his arm, seeing the IV needle. He felt better than before, but it wasn't saying much. "Some flu…" he muttered. A light tap on the door was then heard, and Manny saw it open. "Grandpapi!" he exclaimed, seeing his grandfather enter the room in his black clothing, and sombrero that had small skulls hanging around the rim of it. "Manny, m'boy! Are you okay?" his grandfather asked, coming to his bedside. His grandson nodded. "I'm fine. But I should've stayed home today…" he admitted with a light laugh.

A nurse entered the room, Manny and Grandpapi turning around to see her. She had a syringe in her hand. It made Manny feel a little uneasy to just see it and the red liquid in it. "Sorry, but this might burn a little," she apologized in advance before sticking it into his arm. It felt like someone was holding a lighter to his skin because it burned upon contact alone. Once it was injected, his whole arm began to burn slowly before the right side of his body. He just presumed the feeling would pass. "You'll be getting another three shots in a few hours, and if your condition is improved, you can be discharged tomorrow," she explained. With that done and said, she proceeded to leave the room.

"Mind if we don't tell dad about this? I don't want him to worry," Manny requested. "Sure. Once you feel better, I'll take you home," Grandpapi nodded. Manny just tried to relax afterward, though he was thinking back to what the paramedic had told him on the way here, that a friend had given his information and had found him in the hall. He thought it was Frida, but if that were the case, she would be with him throughout that whole time. It was confusing, but he didn't want to care about it right now. He was just thankful that somebody helped.

**Authors note: This is my first attempt at an el tigre fic, I hope it's good. I do not know if I'll continue it yet.**


	2. Black Cuervo

Early the next morning, Manny was just arriving home, his grandfather having been helping him most of the time. "Still feeling bad, m'boy?" he asked. The teenage boy nodded. "I feel a lot better than yesterday… I'm going to go lay down," he responded, just making his way upstairs, having regained some of his motor control, at least, though he still had a small headache that was pestering him. "Hm… were his eyes blue?" his grandpapi thought, swearing that his grandson was born with brown eyes, but he ignored it, not wanting to start thinking he was going senile in old age.

When in his room, Manny was looking at himself at his dresser's mirror. "Why am I so… depressed?" he asked. His reflection his eyes were blue now instead of their usual brown color. He felt unmotivated, not really able to see any difference himself. He went straight back to bed, wanting to sleep for now, knowing he was out of school for the day.

Manny slept for most of the morning to the early afternoon while he slumbered. Just then, someone entered his room. Frida approached her friend's bedside, digging around in her backpack before pulling out a bunch of papers and resting them on the night stand nearby. "Hey, Manny. Wake up," she said, nudging him. He groaned, beginning to sit up. Frida noticed, and wondered why, his eye color was different. "Oh… hi, Frida," Manny greeted her, sounding like he had little to any care in his voice. He noticed an annoyed look on his best friend's face.

"I brought you your homework. Why didn't you call me when you got put in the hospital?" Frida questioned, feeling bad for him, somewhat blaming herself for his hospitalization. She thought he would have been fine if he had went to the nurse sooner, but she knew it was too late to matter now. "I didn't want to distract you from your practice," Manny answered looking at the stack of homework. "You know if you're hurt, it's never a distraction," she sighed, reminding him. She didn't know much about medicine aside from simple bandage work that she had learned from one of many bad encounters with villainous people. "So how are you feeling?" Frida asked while taking a seat beside him. She could barely get her best friend to look at her face. She wondered if he was upset since his gaze was more attached to the floor at the moment.

"A lot better…" Manny said while he was picking up the first sheet of the stack of homework. Another awkward silence fell, as he began working on the homework, clearly with not much else planned for the day. "Your dad comes home tomorrow, right?" Frida had to remember. "Yeah," he nodded. The silence was hard to break, like any attempt at conversation starting failed, so Frida decided to change the topic to the first thing that came to mind. "Why are your eyes the wrong color?" she questioned. Manny raised an eyebrow, taking another look at himself in his mirror, now noticing it himself before he had presumed he was just tired. "I don't know. Maybe because I was sick?" the teenage boy scratched his head. The change of eye color was a cool ability, though he wish he knew how it had happened exactly to control it more.

"I never knew a disease could change eye color. Anyway, why don't we head to the arcade? That'll cheer you up," his blue haired friend suggested, where upon she noticed him get more cheerful already, as his blue eyes changed back to their original brown. "Yeah! Let's go!" Manny exclaimed. Frida just ignored it, glad he was back to normal and wasn't so mopey now. They just left to go to the arcade, Frida looking forward to beating him in some games.

At the Mayan arcade, the store filled of various game cabinets seemed emptier than usual today, aside from the workers that were appreciative of the noise being nowhere near as loud as it was most of the time. Manny and Frida were playing a fighting game. So far, it had been nearly one sided. Manny was barely able to get his character to get a hit against hers. He had regretted picking the character that needed nothing but skill to do anything, before he watched the last of his life bar fade right after. His fighter had been beaten thoroughly for the fourth time in a row.

"Best five out of seven?" Frida offered, but Manny rolled his eyes. "I think I'll pass…" he coughed while beginning to leave the arcade with her. Outside, the sun was beginning to set since it was starting to get late into the afternoon. Just then, something stopped Manny. "Is that a fire?" he wondered aloud, seeing a big cloud of smoke that was coming from only a few blocks away. "I think that's at the bank," she muttered, annoyed, knowing their time together was going to be interrupted by some random criminal. The two ran off to see what was going on.

Unfortunately, Frida had called it correctly. The bank had smoke coming from it, but it didn't appear to be a fire at all, but more like someone had blasted open the safe inside to steal money. The two realized who it was when they saw someone in a black suit that had purple stripes on areas of it, appearing as mainly a raven design. A big bag of money was snug in the purple criminal's hand, having gathered all she could carry with her strength. "Cuervo," Manny growled, recognizing the villain as a familiar classmate, who the two particularly avoided. Manny just spun the T symbol on his belt, getting himself engulfed in green flames for a brief moment, before transforming into his super heroic alias, El Tigre.

It was obvious that Black Cuervo had seen them, judging by the gaze from her red eyes. She began to fly into the air and dart off in an attempt to fly away and escape. Manny, watching her attempt to escape, fired a claw attached to a chain, straight at her. His aim was lucky, since he caught hold of her leg, though that was when she was already beginning to fly. He knew his arm's chain was beginning to wind up to the end of its length. He tried to grab something on the side of the street, but he didn't get the chance. El Tigre was yanked off the ground, and pulled high into the sky like gravity had gotten sick of being taken for granted. "MANNY!" Frida called. The only response she got was his echoic scream, as he was flying off in the distance.


	3. Rage

Manny was stuck flying in the air, hanging onto Black Cuervo. He was trying to keep calm, but every five seconds being scraped against a building or smashed into the side was starting to get on his nerves. He saw a tall apartment complex come into view, presuming she was going to fly over it. He quickly used his free hand to pull himself up as high as he could put his energy into. Sadly, it was a failure. He collided halfway into the roof. He dug his metal claws into the side of the roof right after impact. This stopped her flight, finally. Black Cuervo cast a glance at him, having only just noticed the cling on. She landed on the roof to see Manny who was pulling himself up, panting.

"Wh-what are you doing with that money?" Manny coughed out the first thing that came to mind. "We have to pay the bills, somehow. It was my turn to get the money. Why do you care? You going to just take the money and let me go?" she simply answered, her red eyes staring boredly at him. He recognized Black Cuervo as his old childhood friend that only made him feel conflicted, between apprehending to arrest, or just beating and taking the money back to claim she had escaped. It was a problem he considered personal in a sense. He didn't like the thought of friends hating him or family looking poorly on him if he became a hero or a villain. It was quite irritating, and it always plagued his mind.

"Maybe if you just hand over the money, Zoe," Manny responded, though Zoe's arm just aimed at him, and a laser gun popped out of the wrist. Manny just growled, before seeing her fire a blast of purple energy straight at him. He quickly threw himself onto the rooftop's hard ground, barely missing it. He noticed that it was bigger and badder than before, presuming that she had some notable upgrades since the last time they fought. Manny tried to get up, and that was where he saw her fly at him and punch him in the face, knocking him back nearly, throwing him off the rooftop.

Manny was panting and sweating, getting more angered by the second. Zoe smirked before firing again. Everything felt like it slowed down for Manny. After that, his eyes snapped to a violent red, and he let out a ferocious roar before putting up his guard and taking the laser blast into his arms. She was surprised that he wasn't trying to avoid it. He began to step toward her, letting the constant pressure of hot beams against his arms begin their dig into his skin.

When Manny got close enough, he let his metal claws slice the blaster off of her wrist, watching the scrap that was left over collapse to the ground. Zoe took a step back, ready to just fly off. The red in his eyes felt intimidating to hers. Manny threw both of his claws, watching them grab her wings. Before she could react, he had already ripped them off. "A-alright! Take the money!" she pleaded. Being cornered on a roof with someone that genuinely looked ready to kill her was filling her head with fear. She fell backwards on the ground, and Manny walked up to her and grabbed her helmet, hard, perhaps more strength than he could usually handle, beginning to crack the visor and helmet himself.

Manny looked down at her eye to eye, though he looked like he was housing the rage of a roaring fire, before suddenly, he felt something press against his chest. He looked down to see her other laser blaster that had been stored away in her other wrist til now. "At this close, you might die and maybe break my wrist. Now calm down," she threatened. Manny took in a deep breath, and exhaled, trying to resist the urge to just keep going. Reluctantly, he took his hand off her. Zoe slowly got up, and she leaned closer into him like she was just taunting him. "I don't know what's gotten into you. But I like it," she admitted before kissing him, fully on the lips. He couldn't do anything to resist the smooch. Zoe's blaster aimed downwards at his feet, and she fired, blasting the rooftop that had been acting as their footing. Manny fell into the hole, and Zoe took the chance to run straight for the fire escape.

Manny just lay there in a pile of rubble, staring at the sky, his enraged red eyes unmoving. Something caught his attention, which was a few wads of money lying nearby, more than likely having fallen out of the bag. He just forced himself onto his feet, grabbed the money and pocketed it, thinking there was no point in returning it. Perhaps it wasn't five percent of what was stolen from the bank. He reverted from his El Tigre form back to his regular clothing, and he began to leave the apartment. He doubted the chances of catching Zoe now, even if he knew where she went.

Manny had just begun roaming the streets. He was considering just heading home. It had been a short day, but he still felt angry, and his arms were aching in pain. Someone stopped him when he felt a hand grab his arm. It just sent a spike of pain on his arm. But that arm looked much too familiar. "There you are, Manny! I was looking all over for you…" she exclaimed, though she looked down at his arm and let go. The devil red eye color was frightening her. "What the… what happened?" she muttered. He knew she didn't mean to hurt him, but it just seemed to drive his rage farther, though by looking at her worried face, he started to have a headache. "She… she shot me," he simply answered, his eyes going blue once again before he began calming down.

Frida just shook her head. "Something's wrong with you. Come on. We need to take care of you," she insisted. Manny rubbed one of his arms, sorely. "It's what I deserve. What can I say? I failed to catch her…" he added, lying about the details of how brutally the two had assaulted each other or more so less he had allowed Zoe to hurt him badly. "You don't deserve pain, and if you think you do, you must have been hit in the head. Now come on. My house is nearby," Frida told him, beginning to drag him off. He didn't like the thought of running into her father, since that man always hated him, and resented him for the heaps of trouble he caused around town.


	4. Worry

Manny had been forced to Frida's house. He knew that she would be mad at him if he just went out of his way to ignore the injuries that he had actually claimed to deserve. When they arrived to her house, once entered inside. It seemed empty, which relieved Manny, thinking her parents were probably at work and her siblings were doing something in town.

"I think the first aid kits in the kitchen…" Frida said, leading him into the kitchen that looked recently cleaned. Manny's blue eyes however were drawn to the sight of the familiar older man that had black hair and a mustache, while wearing a light tan jacket, and a black eye patch. "Hey, dad. How're you feeling?" she greeted her father, Emiliano. His one eye was focusing on the young boy more, looking at his arms which showed the odd injury that confused him. He was moving a bit slower than usual. "Welcome home, Frida… and I'm fine," he answered. "If you need the first aid kit, it's in the bathroom closet," he added. It didn't take much to know why she had brought her best friend over. Frida wasted no time leaving the room to get it.

Manny took a seat the table. "Why aren't you at work?" blurted Manny. It was odd to see him off duty for once. Emiliano just sighed. "I got shot in the side stopping a heist. So I have a few days off. What hurt you?" he responded, questioning his injuries. The conversation was mainly just a time killer. The teenage boy wondered why she couldn't find the medical kit faster, since being alone with her father made him feel uncomfortable. The man still disliked him for his past criminal acts and dangers that he sometimes put his daughter in. "I tried to stop a bank robbery, and got blasted bad," Manny explained.

"Hm… at least you got lucky. It can always be worse…" Emiliano said while sitting down in front of him. The fact that Manny's eyes were blue, and that he was looking depressed, made him take a bit of pity on him. "In two days, I am going to be back on duty. I put up with common thugs. Anything could be a big threat...You shouldn't underestimate anyone or anything. Being a hero is a hard thing, not that I expect you to know much about it," Emiliano attempted to reassure him in his own way. It was hard to tell if he was depressed or just having a bad day. "Yes, sir…" Manny nodded not entirely understanding of what he said. Frida's father saw his eyes change to green. He was happier than a minute ago. If he was still in pain, he hid it well. Before the conversation could continue further, Frida finally showed up with the first aid kit. That practically hour long wait had barely taken a few minutes.

Frida spent the next half hour treating Manny's arms every now and then, giving a glance to his eyes. Ever since she saw them first change, she felt the need to keep focus on them. "Manny… do you know why your eyes keep changing color? They were blue before…" she asked. He seemed happier now that his eyes were green. It made her wonder if it was just some new power of his, pointless or not. "I don't know. I guess it just happens," Manny said. He never really noticed himself last time she had pointed it out, and he had blamed it on the sickness changing the color. But now, he had no clue.

Frida finished bandaging his left arm burn mark. Her dad was in the living room, just relaxing, mainly on doctor's orders. "Your dad comes home tomorrow until then. Just rest, alright? You've been put in the hospital, nearly burnt your arms up fighting… I'm just worried you aren't really able to do much. Promise me you won't do anything dangerous until you're completely better," Frida begged, knowing how much of a limit he had, especially if his condition kept getting worse. She was hoping his father would be able to help fix this. Manny was glad to have her watching over him, knowing she was just worried. Normally she was as laid back as he was, but lately the injuries just kept piling up.

"Alright. I promise," Manny said as his eyes went back to the blue color. "It happened again!" she announced, somewhat startling him. After that, he just left her home, not wanting to trouble her anymore. He was planning on going to try and look into this eye problem of his. He had to go back to school tomorrow, so it would mean trouble if he randomly wound up acting weird again. He thought to himself, that perhaps his grandfather would know what was wrong with him.


	5. Planning

Manny was arriving home, tired and feeling in pain. His arms may have been treated, but that hadn't changed the lack of feeling his arms, but he knew it was most likely from the burns from Black Cuervo's blasts. When he arrived to his somewhat empty home, he saw his grandfather working on a weird device. "Grandpapi. What are you doing?" Manny asked while approaching. It looked like some weird small sized metal stud. Grandpapi stopped what he was doing and put the few tools he was using aside. "Oh. Just a device to freeze people in place for a short time...It shoots an electric pulse out into their legs, messing up the nerves so they lose control for a few minutes," he explained. Manny could guess the device was designed for his father if he ever tried to stop Puma Loco during a villainous act.

"Something is wrong with me, Grandpapi. My eyes… they keep changing colour. And today I went nuts and nearly killed someone just for some money they stole from a bank," Manny explained his problem, hoping his grandfather will understand the situation or have some way to fix it. His grandfather got an optimistic look on him. "Like they went bloodshot?" he questioned, his grandson nodding. "Si. And when I was normal, they had escaped. If they hadn't stopped me, I would have… I just lost it," he added, getting more depressed, not wanting to go into detail further of who he was fighting and how the fight went though. Manny only got a tight hug as result.

"Manny! It's finally happening. Your subconscious is making the choice before you do. You're becoming evil! Soon, we can rule this town together!" Puma Loco cheered. It was like a victory to him. He always tried to do evil acts with his grandson or plant suggestions in his mind. Manny wanted to protest, but at a second thought, what he was saying was making sense. A violent rage just to hurt someone like he had done, and the uncontrollable rage, almost like his tiger instincts, had overwhelmed his thought process. "I… am?" he muttered, knowing the news of this would devastate his father, if anything. All the upsides to being a bad guy had been explained to him so many times, it was easy for him to recite easy wealth and mass destruction and unlimited amounts of fun without rules.

Manny suddenly heard the phone ringing going over and picking it up. "Hello?" he answered. "Hello, Manny…" Zoe's voice rang out. He looked over his shoulder, where his grandfather continued working on the new device. He was more confused why she was calling him. "What do you want, Zoe?" he asked, still feeling a bit bad for going nuts and almost ripping her to shreds when she was Black Cuervo earlier. "I… wanted to know if you were alright. You actually looked scary back there," Zoe answered. Bad guy or not, she still considered him a friend, having desired for much more before.

Manny could feel something battering at the back of his mind before he even realized it. His eyes were red again. "I'm just fine. Why don't we meet up? I'm really bored…" he requested, only hearing silence for a brief moment. She had to think on it, unsure whether he could be trusted after the snap before. "Uh, sure. Where do you want to meet up?" she requested. "The mall. I'll be waiting for you by the fountain," Manny answered before abruptly hanging up. When he turned around he could a smile on his grandpapi after he noticed his red eyes. "You weren't kidding about the colour. You know which decision you want, Manny," he pressured, wanting to help him turn evil if he did agree to becoming a villain. "I need time to think," the red eyed boy laughed before walking out of the door.

It was starting to get a bit late at night as Manny arrived to the mall. He could tell it was closed already, but the fountain he had planned to meet Zoe at was right outside at the entrance, mainly for looks, and there she was in a black dress, wearing a pair of gloves. Her hair was black as well but it had a few light purple streaks of dye in it. She gave a small wave upon seeing him.

"Hey, Manny," Zoe greeted, feeling a bit awkward, wondering why he wanted to meet up with her. The same red look in his eyes still made her slightly fearful, but she just kept calm. "Hey, Zoe. Sorry about the, uh… well, you know," he apologized, just wanting to get that aside. "Yeah, sorry for nearly killing you," she finished that apology speech. The two laughed, as it was an attempt at breaking the ice that felt like it was becoming more awkward.

"I had to use the money I took to repair the damages," Zoe said, sighing, thinking it didn't matter between the two of them if they spoke about their alter egos in a sense. "What did you want to meet up with me about?" she asked, letting him take a seat on the fountain beside her. "Well… I want to do criminal acts. I was hoping you could give me advice," he spoke. It didn't feel like the words he wanted to say, but at the same time those were the only words echoing in his mind. A lust for robbing, thieving and causing destruction that refused to stop. Zoe wanted to refuse at first, but then she believed this could be a fun thing, and that way, it can make up for the money she had lost in repairs.

"Alright, sure. Come on," Zoe smiled, leaving alongside Manny to begin the night of mischief.


	6. Burglary

Manny found himself standing on a rooftop in the late of night. Zoe was beside him, looking down into the streets below. "Okay. You see that store?" she pointed ahead. Manny could see a small sized jewellery store, where one with too much money would go to get low quality gems. He knew it was also the newest one in town, maybe having only opened five months ago. "Yeah. What about it?" the red eyed boy responded. She rolled her eyes. "The only security they can afford at night is a guard inside and a security camera at the front door that is right outside. Now the traffic has slowed down and probably won't pick up for tonight. Just sneak along, smash the camera, go in and find the guard, and then steal everything," Zoe explained the plan she had made for him to start off the criminal night. Manny just shrugged before spinning his belt buckle to turn into El Tigre, and beginning to scale down the side of the building to get to the streets.

El Tigre could see the small camera that was dangling a bit above the doorway. He just crouched down and snuck underneath it when he made sure it wasn't looking. He reached up and slashed it to bits. He grinned punching the glass door, and shattering it to pieces, that was when the alarm started blaring. He hid beneath the front of the counter and started hearing footsteps. He presumed it to be the guard already. He watched until the guard came around the corner, and he grabbed his leg, forcing him to trip to the ground. Before he could react, he got kicked in the head, being knocked unconscious.

Zoe waited patiently on the rooftop until she saw his hand on the side of the building, having pulled himself up after fleeing the jewellery store, carrying a bag full of the various gems. "Wow! Good work," she smiled before he turned back into Manny. "It was too easy," he laughed, though noticed an amethyst ring snug on his finger. He pulled it off, not really being that big of a fan of the shiny rocks. "Here. You can have it," he gave it to her. She just looked at it for a second before slipping it on. "Thanks. Now I'm going to let you pick the next place to break into. Rapidos," Zoe insisted, Manny just following, carrying the bag over his shoulder, looking forward to the next few hours.

They spent the night committing various crimes, most of which revolved around robbery and assault to any security guard that even looked at him funny, though after a while, the bag he had been carrying everything in was getting too heavy. He was panting while walking across one of the many rooftops they had been traversing across to hide easier. "Z-zoe? Can we just call it here? I can't carry anymore…" Manny requested. Zoe just looked down at her watch that read 4:38am, thinking they had done all they could tonight before sun could rise. "Yeah, sure," Zoe shrugged, glad that he was so far enjoying the criminal activities. He sat down, drained of his energy. He didn't seem that angry, even with the red eyes. Any rage he had was taken out on one of the many guards that had been rendered unconscious.

"I like this new you. Especially when you aren't trying to kill me," Zoe had to admit while looking around, so far no sign of cops hunting them specifically. "Yeah…" Manny coughed, not really sure of what had brought it all on, but he was mainly thinking back to when the eye colour change started happening, but he could only recall it happening randomly before he went to bed yesterday. Zoe took his hand and pulled out a pen before writing something down on it. He quirked an eyebrow at what it read. The line of numbers added to one simple cell phone number. "Call me if you need anything, Manny. Take care," she gave a smile. It was nicer than he had received from her in the past, but while she walked away to get off the rooftop, one thought was in her mind. "Looks like I win, Frida…" she just enjoyed the late night of the bright stars overhead while going home.

Later on in the next day at his home, Manny had just woken up in his bedroom. His head throbbed in pain, and his eyes were back to blue. He got out of bed, checking his alarm clock. The time was barely 7:38am. He made his way to the living room, holding his head, though his attention was drawn to when he saw his grandfather who was looking over the familiar items on the kitchen table. "Manny! Good morning. Up late last night?" Puma Loco rhetorically questioned. Manny just sighed. "Yeah, yeah. I went on a robbery spree," he admitted, knowing his grandfather would probably be proud of the news, like it or not.

"You did good for a first real outing. Big mistake was only going to jewellery stores, but you have to start somewhere," he stated, sliding all of the gems back into the bag. "I know a guy who can sell them quick. I'll go do that. You've done great, Manny," Puma Loco commented, knowing to get rid of it before his dad came home. Manny was more wondering if he should tell his father or not. Something in the back of his head was making him worried. If his father was told, or if he just found out, what was stopping him from disowning him?

Manny wondered if he could live if his father despised him. It was starting to be the only thought on his mind now, when his eyes went green again.


	7. Searching

Manny found himself back in school, having arrived a little late to his first class. He had went through the school day like normal for the most part at the moment, and he was sitting in history class, more focused than he usually was, though he noticed a crumpled piece of paper land on his desk. He looked over his shoulder, seeing Frida who was making a small wave hand gesture. He unraveled the piece of paper and read it. "How are you feeling?" He just hid the note in his desk afterward and showed her a thumbs up in response, hoping she will understand it, and he continued through class.

Once school let out for the day, Manny was putting his items away at his locker. "Hey, Manny!" he heard, noticing Frida approaching. She slowed a bit, seeing his green eyes. It was still creepy how they just changed randomly. "Hey, Frida," he responded tiredly. Having been up all night had taken its toll on him, draining most of his energy otherwise. "I had an idea on what could be causing your whole… weird problems," she claimed, catching his attention fast with the presumption she had some form of clue to find out what started this. "Really? What is it?" he asked, waiting for some hopeful insight. His dad would be home in a few hours, so he had to know fast.

"You said you weren't feeling like yourself since the hospital trip. So what if someone at the hospital messed with you?" Frida elaborated while they were walking through the halls. Manny did remember the nurse injecting him with various syringes of medicine that burned or chilled his veins. "Maybe. I mean, they gave me weird medicine… we could go try to find that nurse," he said, thinking that finding the nurse that had injected him was the best idea. Frida saw his eyes turn blue again, having to question if the colour change to blue was related to her being near him. He wasted no time heading to the hospital alongside her.

It had taken two hours for them to arrive to the hospital that Manny had been in barely a few days ago himself. They were in the lobby, where at least dozens of different people were seated, looking dreadful drained or tired, and the nurses were going around and getting histories the same way a waiter would gather orders. "Ugh… there must be a ton of nurses on this floor alone. How are we going to find her in all this hospital?" Manny wondered aloud. Frida pointed to the nearby elevator. "Well she'd probably be in paediatric care like you were," she suggested the third floor would be the best place to look. He was thankful she was around to help, and he was feeling like he was slowing down and not wanting to continue doing much.

The two took the elevator to the third floor, the music droning like it was trying to put someone to sleep. Once they got off the elevator they could see a desk nearby where workers were just putting folders away, shredding papers or working on the computer. Manny approached the desk, getting one of the workers attention. "Hey is there a nurse with blonde hair that is kind of short around here?" he requested to know if there was any kind of nurse like that around. The worker just gave an annoyed glare. "Kid, we have blonde nurses but they all are pretty tall in height. Some are taller than me," he answered, Manny giving a confused glance to Frida.

On the way down the stairs, Manny was irritated. "Are you sure that's what the nurse looked like?" Frida had to reassure he was looking for the right person or not since he had been nearly out of his mind in the hospital during his first time admittance. "I know what I saw," he growled, his eyes going red again. "I have a lot of people that hate me and could be happier if I were dead. One got me sick and then they sent someone to my room to mess with my mind," he elaborated on his train of thought at the moment. Frida was unsure of when he became smart to plans like that, but she doubted a villain or someone that hated him could do all of this in less than a day's notice. It was almost like he was becoming paranoid of himself and the things around him.

"Okay… maybe we should just focus on a cure right now before we go hunting down every person that doesn't like you ever," Frida recommended, wanting to treat this weird problem of his before that, doubting a hospital would know what to do in this case. If someone wanted to kill Manny and had the chance to get him sick, then they could have just poisoned him so he was prone to inevitably face death in a few minutes, unless the villain just enjoyed watching someone suffer, but there had been no signs of anyone stalking him. "…Zoe might know…" he groaned, hoping she would need nothing special to help.

"Zoe? Why her?" Frida raised an eyebrow. "I've been hanging out with her since the bank robbery," he described, not wanting to go into further detail of what he had been doing in the time he spent with her. But the two had no clue that someone was watching from the shadows, spying on them like the hospital was under heavy watch in case they had come back. Manny and Frida were off, leaving the hospital to find the gothic girl herself.


	8. Denial

Manny had walked with Frida to another part of town. The daylight was starting to get a little dimmer, since it was about to go dark in an hour or two. "Do you even know where she lives?" Frida asked her friend, concerned that they might be wasting time by searching blindly. "Yeah… unless she moved. I have her cellphone number, either way," he answered. His brown eyes hadn't changed yet, and she was more focused on that until she heard the cellphone comment. "Wait… you have her cell number?" she repeated, eyebrow quirked, recalling anytime Black Cuervo and him ran into each other, it either turned into a glare contest or a brawl. "Yeah. I got it after apologizing to her…" he explained, rubbing his head sorely, just thinking back on his bloodlust. It was a bit shameful to him, but he still didn't want to inform her about it, out of fear on how he would then be viewed.

Manny stopped shortly after looking at one home of the many on the block. "She should live here," he claimed, the possibility of her having moved still being a bit of a worry. He knocked on the door, waiting patiently. There was an awkward silence between the two friends. They didn't know what to talk about or at least without looping the same topics they had already discussed. They saw the door open, and Zoe was standing there. Manny was relieved to see her. "Hola, Zoe," he smiled, glad his friend hadn't moved in all this time, just hoping past anger between the two girls wouldn't boil over again. "Hola, Manny. What are you doing here?" Zoe asked, just leaning on the doorway boredly, clearly having more interest in a staring contest with Frida than listening to the conversation.

"We came to ask if you… knew what was wrong with Manny. Since he kinda keeps losing his mind," Frida explained. "It's not losing my mind. It's just… me losing control at times…" Manny gave in. It was partially losing his mind, and the sad part was that he was remembering the things he did in these other personalities, the longer they went on. He was noticing the ring on her, which he had given her after their burglary spree. He wondered why she hadn't pawned it. "Seems normal to me," Zoe nonchalantly lied, only to receive an angered glare from his friend Frida. They weren't going to stop the interrogation unless she gave a real answer. "No, I have no idea. he might've just gone nuts from his alter ego" she suggested. She was more willing to cause more crime with him but doubted he was in the mood for it right now.

"Right… well, thanks. I-I'll see you around…" Manny thanked her. "Yeah… do you want to hang out tomorrow?" Zoe gave a smirk. Manny got nervous, knowing just what her definition of hanging out was. He presumed it just was daytime crimes, and he thus didn't know what to think, aside from the benefit of getting easy money. Before he could answer, Frida just grabbed her friend by his jacket. "Sorry, but I need his help with something," she claimed. Zoe rolled her eyes before going back into her home and closing the door. "Huh? …what is it you need my help with tomorrow?" Manny questioned while they were heading back to the streets. "Nothing, but I'm gonna try to help you instead. If it is your alter ego messing with your mind, we only got one way to find out, which is to watch for any change," the blue haired girl elaborated on her idea, just wanting to get him away from a possible influence on his personality snapping.

"You always have those eyes around me…" Frida added that it was her idea while looking into his currently blue eyes. He seemed like he lost more energy faster, even when he was barely doing anything, and would become greatly depressive within moments. It was easy to notice, despite his best efforts. "Do I make you like this?" Frida continued. She had been overdoing the band practice a lot for the past few months and had left him on his own most of the time when he didn't want to participate in listening to their music. She hated to think that she was a part of why he was losing his mind. "F-Frida… come on, it's just a coincidence," he said, not really noticing until she brought it up. He had actually been more preparing for the possibility that her and her band became popular, and he didn't want to burden her and get in between her dreams.

Frida rubbed her head, unable to tell if he was lying to make her feel better. She was thinking as hard as she could of anytime they weren't blue. She recalled a few times, but they were minor and anytime they were a different color, they would change to blue again. It was just a plague on her mind as of late. Manny was aware that she was about to practice with her band tomorrow, trying to come up with some way to reassure it wasn't her fault that he was like this, but he was starting to notice the pattern too. Just then, he came up with an idea. "Your dad! Maybe I could just spend the day with him," he suggested. If she wanted to monitor him that badly, she could just request her father to monitor him. "I guess… they did offer him more time off after all," she didn't entirely like the idea, as she was unsure how the two would get along. But she thought worst case her friend would just have another day depressed.

"I'll try to talk to him," Frida said, aware that he knew what not to do around her dad at this point. She looked at her watch realizing the time it was indicating. "I need to get home. I'll see you later," she told him. "Alright, Frida. Goodnight," he told her, watching her head the other direction. He just continued the way he was walking, wanting to get home himself and forget he had just done anything like that. It felt like an overwhelming sense of guilt attacking him, and he had no idea why.

Manny arrived home after a short travel. As he entered his home, he saw the familiar man in business clothing who was resting in the living room, wearing a mask and shiny gold boots. "Oh, hey dad," he greeted his father, Rodolfo, a hero that had the alter ego of White Pantera, who used his bronze boots of truth for powerful kicks and speed faster than a lot of people. "Manny! Welcome home," his father happily greeted his son. It didn't appear like he knew anything of the burglaries, so he could take assurance in knowing his grandfather had kept quiet. "How have things been while I was gone?" he queried his son. "Uh… fine. And the business trip?" he answered his question with another question. "Haha! Son, you know how my trips are. Same as always," he stated, though he was noticing his son's depressed look at the moment.

"Son, is something wrong?" he asked, worried for him and his health. "Huh?" he snapped out of his slight daze. "Um… I'm going to be hanging out with Frida's father tomorrow, that's all," he used his plans as an excuse not to have another person worrying over him. "What? I thought you did not like him," Rodolfo had to point out the discrepancy. "I don't, but I thought it'd be good to spend time with a law enforcer…" Manny elaborated, so far happy he had been able to make up lies fast. This did seem to make his father cheerier, though he had been like his grandfather, but quite the opposite, trying to get Manny onto the side of good instead of evil. "You enjoy tomorrow. You earned it," his father reassured, watching his son go upstairs, just proud that he might be considering being good.


	9. Justice part 1

Manny had slept through the night like any other, but early in the next morning, his eyes were forced open by the sunlight. He groaned and looked over at his nearby clock that read ten in the morning. It was strange to sleep in this late for him, and he knew he was, in a sense, sick. He still felt like he had not regained much energy from his sleep. He just headed downstairs after getting ready for another usual day at hand. He realized that his dad had already left for work, since he was nowhere to be seen. "Manny! Good morning," his grandpapi greeted him happily, having been watching a movie to kill time in the day.

"Morning, grandpapi," Manny yawned and saw his grandfather hold out a wad of money to him. He hesitantly took it and examined it. The line of cash built to a total of about two hundred dollars. "What's this for?" he asked. "It's your cut of what I got from those jewels you stole," he claimed. It wasn't much, he knew that, but he doubted his grandson would be aware of the full value of the gems. "Oh. Uh, thanks…" the teenage boy pocketed the money, glad to at least have some money on hand if he needed it, though through the window of the house, Manny spotted a police cruiser that stopped outside. "A police car is here," he announced to the suddenly empty room. Whenever police were around, it was like his grandfather had a sixth sense to law abiding people.

Manny hesitantly went outside to the police cruiser. There, he found Frida's father at the driver's seat, who was back in uniform. Manny hadn't been informed of that revelation, though he wondered if he had missed a phone call sleeping late. His blue eyes felt like they didn't want to look at the officer out of some fear he found out about the burglaries. "Hello, Manny," Emiliano sourly greeted. "H-hey, Mister Suarez… wh-what are you doing here?" he hesitantly asked, trying to keep calm.

"Frida asked to let you spend a day with me while I had time off. So I decided to decline the time off and go back to work early. Get in," Emiliano explained. It was obvious he wasn't the type to enjoy laying around, feeling worthless, while his city got damaged more and more by criminals. Manny just nodded, stepping into the passenger seat. The police car drove off once he was in.

The drive felt long. It just seemed like riding around randomly through the city. The sound of random radio chatter was going on to fill in the silence between the two. "So… where are we going?" Manny attempted to break the ice, not sure whether he was able to relax or not, since he hadn't been handcuffed. "Nowhere. Not one real crime in progress that are being called in. They want me to do more patrol so I don't tear my stitches," Emiliano responded. Any chatter on the radio was for problems that they were nowhere near able to respond to nor worth getting a wave of officers together to handle, since the last time the radio went off it was over a medical emergency to a K-9 Unit's dog.

Emiliano seemed more interested in another topic while they drove around the town. "You're depressed a lot, I hear?" the police chief changed the topic. Manny presumed Frida had informed him a little of what had been occurring. He had wished she hadn't done that on him, but he knew she only had good intentions for him, and he doubted hiding his blue eyes at the moment would help anything. "Yeah. I have. It's a long story though," he coughed, still remembering the advice he had received last time talking to him. It did leave an echo in his head at the memory, but it didn't bother him too much.

Before they could continue the chat, the radio began to blare again. "We have a report of a robber that has broken into three apartments at 201 Lynbrook Road. Requesting all available backup," another officer's voice chimed. Manny was aware they were maybe a mile or two away from there. "Don't get any ideas to rob the robber…" Emiliano warned, not trusting the boy in this situation. Manny just stayed silent in his seat, out of a bit of intimidation. The sirens were turned on and they began speeding through the road. If a robber had been able to break into three apartments to need multiple police officers to catch him, it must have been a bigger problem.

The area that they had driven to was a bit more work-related. Buildings, warehouses, nearby stores, with the apartment stationed nearby, mostly for workers. They could see police having the area blocked off already. "Looks like we have an interesting criminal. You're gonna be my partner for today, so try not to get shot," Emiliano ordered. "Y-yes, sir," Manny agreed, not wanting to make him despise him anymore than he already did. Manny was going to put as much decent effort as he could at being an unintentional partner

Manny just followed the police chief past one of the barricade of prepared cop cars. In some odd case, the criminal got a hold of a vehicle. "What's going on?" Emiliano asked, seeing another officer greet him. "Well sir, we can't really explain it. The man keeps appearing on different floors. We found him on Floor 9, at first, but then another officer reported him taking belongings from Floor 8. Now we have no clue where he is," he explained, the police chief scratching his chin. "Hey, kid, you shouldn't be-" the officer got cut off before he could warn Manny how dangerous it was here. "He's with me," Emiliano gave the very simple explanation before turning to Manny. "C'mon, Manny. I have an idea," he walked ahead, Manny just hoping he wouldn't have to become El Tigre out of fear. One snap of rage, and that might just lead him to either a violent take down or a long sentence behind bars.

Manny had followed Emiliano up the fire escape of the apartment. Each flight up they found themselves peeking in windows to make sure at least one hallway at a time was clear. Then, at the sixth floor, Emiliano saw through the window, a skinny man in all black entering into one of the rooms with a lock pick. "Stay back," he warned, before breaking the window, knowing the only other way to open it was by being unlocked inside. He climbed in, watching the criminal dart off. "Stop!" he yelled out before beginning to make chase. Manny felt more worthless for being unable to chase along with him, but then, he heard the shatter of something that wasn't the leftover glass anyway.

Manny got curious. He climbed up one flight, thinking Frida's father could handle a lucky guy in a ski mask that had somehow been avoiding the cops, but at the seventh floor, he became more confused, seeing another person in a ski mask of the same skinny body type, coming out of one of the rooms, having apparently dropped a presumably valuable vase. "What in the…?" he felt even more confused. Two similar robbers at the same apartment that looked alike. It did explain how they kept losing the cops. The two of them were just messing with their heads.

Unfortunately for the black haired boy, this robber didn't seem easily startled like the last one, and upon spotting him, he reached into the side of his belt, pulling out a handgun. Manny threw himself down on the fire escape, hearing the sound of gunshots ring out along with more breaking glass. He just lay there, waiting for his ears to quit aching. But then, he remembered what Emiliano had told him. "You never should underestimate anyone or anything. It is hard to be a hero. One slip up and everything you've worked hard for can be gone," the voice echoed in his head. As his eyes changed green, he reached down for his belt and spun it. He was transformed back into El Tigre, ready to strike back, but happily enough, he didn't feel like he was in a blind rage. This time, it was a major sense of determination.


	10. Justice part 2

Manny growled, having been somewhat pinned down from gunfire from the criminal. He had turned into El Tigre, hoping some police would come help him, but he doubted it since Emiliano was chasing the other criminal on a lower floor, and so he wouldn't have their full attention. The gunfire stopped, and Manny decided to put some new idea he had to action. He just crawled to the edge of the fire escape and dug one of his claws into the side of the wall, taking in a deep breath before jumping off the side, letting his chain hand swing him from nearly one end to the other. He used his free hand to dig it into the building, relieved that he had not botched the idea so far. He looked in through the window he was near, seeing the criminal himself. He wanted to get closer to the fire escape, presuming the person he had been shooting at was still there.

Manny forced the window open, glad that it wasn't an issue. He pulled himself up and quickly began charging at the robber. His footsteps echoed on the floor. The burglar heard with ease, and he instantly turned around and tried to shoot him, firing three shots, missing horribly with the first while the other two dug into his shoulder and leg. Neither of the two bullets really slowed him down, and thankfully, the gun had jammed right afterwards. Manny tackled the robber back, pinning him against the ground. The enemy tried to reach for his gun, but it was out of reach. Manny grabbed his head, laughing. "You're under arrest. Sorry for you and your twin," he grinned before flopping his head against the floor to render him unconscious. With that handled, the teenage boy changed back to normal, thinking the problem was solved now.

Manny reached the oozing wounds with a raised eyebrow. "Hehe… I don't feel a thing," he thought, only some overwhelming sense of accomplishment that seemed like it was drowning out the pain only temporarily. The throbbing began setting in from the wounds that were still hot. He grabbed the foot of the criminal and began to head for the stairs now that they were safer, though once he got down the flight of stairs, he saw the other robber lying against the wall, handcuffed by Emiliano, and unarmed since engaging against him. "You okay? I heard gunfire," he asked, seeing his green eyes. "Yes, sir, just an idiot with bad aim," Manny laughed, letting the police chief handcuff the other criminal. Emiliano saw his gunshot wounds and sighed. "I requested you not to get injured. Come on," he insisted before beginning to head down the stairs with the teenage boy. "We need paramedics for two gunshot wounds. Criminals have been captured on the upper floor," he said to his radio, glad that Manny was at least alright, like he didn't mind the pain as much as he should. His arm and leg did throb in agony at the feeling of it.

Once outside again, Emiliano sat on one of the many squad cars near the ambulance. Manny lay on a stretcher, cringing as the two emergency personnel were dug into his limbs, trying to pull out the shrapnel. "How are you feeling?" the one eyed officer questioned, knowing he was partially responsible for the injury, or so he felt like. "I feel fine. I mean, if I can't get over the small injuries, I'm just a weakling to others, right?" Manny responded with a cheerful smile. "I remembered what you told me when that guy started shooting me and before I knew it I had caught him," he added like he had been possessed by the compulsion to not fail in terms of capturing the bad guy. He cringed a little in pain as another bullet shard got removed from his leg. "Alright, that should be the last of it. Just try not to stress either of the limbs," the paramedic insisted while bandaging the wound. Emiliano just scratched his chin, wondering if what he had said really stuck with his daughter's friend. He was more curious to see if it was true. He helped Manny up. So far he was able to walk. It just took some time to get used to the aches in his arm and leg. "Let's go. We're done here," Emiliano said. "Alright…" Manny nodded, following him back to the car, glad he had helped.

It was barely one in the afternoon, but the day felt like a lot longer to Manny. Emiliano was noticing his happier tone. For an injured child, it made him more tolerable, but confused as well. "So… my daughter… do you like her?" Emiliano spoke the first topic he could think of to try and break the ice. "Of course. Frida's great," Manny gave the obvious response. "Really? You two haven't been… hanging out as much," he continued. Normally he wouldn't complain in the slightest about his daughter disassociating from a possible family of psychopaths, but even with spite in his mind, he knew her friend was just another teenager who was still deciding what to do with his life, and it was becoming even harder to decide because of his father and grandfather.

"I don't want to keep her busy from band practice. That's why I asked to spend time with you," Manny explained. The more he spoke, the more of a weight he felt to his friend in deep honesty. "So… we both just want what we think is the best for her…" Emiliano sighed, rubbing his head a bit, turning the radio in the car off for the moment. "After today, I am going to pretend that I never was with you, nor told you any of this. The twins, Nikita and Anita, have each other and other friends. You know that Frida doesn't have as many. Just the band and you. I know she feels neglected at times, but… I want to thank you for being there when we aren't able to be, caring for her and at least protecting her when I can't," Emiliano exclaimed his thoughts, having spent more time with him, to feel more friendly to say that much. "What I'm saying is… you are one of her only real friends," from there on, when he finished speaking, it was silence again.

"You're a good dad…" Manny rubbed his sore arm, his green eyes turning to the window, his eyes flashing between blue and green without him noticing, before hearing the radio get flipped back on. "We have an armed robbery in progress. Criminals in a getaway vehicle, heading south on 831 Orchard Road," the static voice chimed. Emiliano just floored the gas pedal, knowing the conversation was over. He wanting to get through the rest of the day like normal.


	11. Discovery

Manny found himself asleep in the passenger side of the police chief's car. Emiliano was appreciative of the help he had received first day back on the job, and already a lot of criminals captured. He looked over to the teenage boy as they pulled back into his home. "Maybe he'll turn out good one day," Emiliano thought, knowing he would well pretend this day had never occurred. He reached over and shook him out of his dazed state. "Hm? Oh… where are we?" Manny asked, awake. "Your home. We, uh, captured nine criminals today…" the police chief answered. Manny knew that meant their day of partnership was over now. He climbed out of the car. "I thank you again for the help… take this," he added, holding something out to him from his window. It was a rusty and dented badge that had a sheriff symbol on it.

"This? But… this is your badge!" he responded wondering why Mister Suarez would give him this. "I need a new one. That one's taken two bullets and twenty years of age… I don't know what the future is for you, but at least don't forget the past sometimes. It is the only enjoyment we get," Emiliano told him. After today, he was going to pretend like none of this happened like he already informed him. With that, he backed out of the driveway, turning his sirens on before leaving, having already been called out. Manny just stood there, looking at the badge. "Don't forget the past…" his head throbbed and began aching again. His green eyes were stuck on the badge. It felt like someone was drilling into his skull, but after a few seconds, he snapped out of it, letting out a light gasp. "What… what just happened?" he felt like he had a minor panic attack. He just went back inside his home, looking around the living room, where his grandfather was still nowhere to be seen. He presumed he was at a secret hideout of some form when he heard about the police.

Manny went up to his room, putting the badge down on his dresser, taking a peek at himself in the mirror. He didn't look entirely well. He looked tired, drained, and in pain, but even though being injured by bullet wounds, a few punches and nearly being run over by a car, the day felt like it had been great for some reason. He then noticed his brown eyes were back. A smile formed on his face. "My green eyes… they're gone…" he muttered, rubbing his head to make sure he wasn't hallucinating, but they were completely gone. He wondered if his red and blue eyes were gone, too, but he wasn't in any condition to test in a form of activating them alone. He was already in enough pain to prevent himself from going anywhere to try and intentionally get his anger boiling. He thought to himself. Maybe it was the first step toward something good, either way. He sat on the bed, before resting his head on the pillow, staring up at the ceiling. That was all he could do while slowly beginning to fall asleep.

A few hours later, Nanny was awoken by the sound of a loud ringing noise. He slowly sat up in bed, reaching over to his nightstand, but the ringing stopped before he could answer. He just brushed it off as nothing before getting up. He stepped to the mirror and looked himself in there, one more time. His brown eyes were still intact. "They're normal… t-they're normal!" he unbelievably laughed to himself before beginning to head downstairs in joy, that was until he saw his father Rodolfo. "Oh, Manny. Glad you're finally awake. You must have been very tired," he commented, looking like he was just as happy as his son.

"Thanks. What time is it?" Manny asked. His father showed his watch, which indicated five in the morning. "I'm just waiting to get a phone call about your grandfather. I have not seen him since yesterday. Speaking of yesterday, I heard about what you did…" Rodolfo started, pulling his son into a hug, proud. Already he had heard the news of all his heroic deeds from yesterday. "Oh, uh… yeah, what I did…" his son coughed, not really too proud of it. He had no sign of the green eyes again, but he was not sure whether to take credit for the heroism or not, though he had more of an idea that came into his head. "I'm going to go out and get ahead on my day," Manny said, lying to just get out easier. "Of course, mijo," his father, nodded allowing his son to leave in the early morning.

Manny had spent an hour walking to the first library he could think of. As he arrived he saw that they were going to be closed for another few hours. He just got a grin, his eyes going red once again. He punched the window out in the front door and reached inside to open it, not caring as he made his way in, doubting a low quality library would bother with security. His head was throbbing in pain more. His eyes were snapping from red to blue, on and off, rapidly. He just tried to ignore it while focusing on his current goal. He was looking around in the lines of books, a bit mindlessly. He was more in the medical area. Anything that looked more based on psychology, he would just grab and throw them onto the table nearby. His blues eyes were starting to take control temporarily. It was like at this point, his mind was fighting itself. He sat down to begin on one of the books, wanting to find something to cure his mental status.

Manny had spent over an hour pawing through multiple books until he finally found something. "Dissociative identity disorder…" he mumbled, learning from the topic that it was not as much as an infection as it was a problem that could stem out from trauma, which practically fought to pick the real mindset. He tapped his fingers along the table. "Trauma… but, I haven't been injured aside from… when I got sick…" he realized, relieved. He didn't have to go hunting down that nurse, but he was still thinking that maybe that infection had weakened his body so bad that it might have tricked his mind into thinking he was dying, and his thoughts at the time were what occurred. He wondered if it was why his green eyes were now gone, if he had satisfied his need to do good things or for some other reason. He felt like his head was about to explode from trying to figure it out, though very soon, he had an idea.


	12. Robbery

It was eleven in the morning now, as Manny was walking along the streets. His eyes were red at the moment. His mind was a drift while pondering if the plan was good. He kept telling himself that it was the best option he had, and if it didn't work well, he would have a new issue to suffer through in life. He arrived to the Mayan Arcade. Looking inside, he saw the familiar black haired friend of his, Zoe, sitting around, looking bored. She was wearing a light purple hoody. It didn't appear she was there to enjoy some arcade action. In fact, there weren't many there. Manny entered inside, beginning to approach her. "Zoe! Hey," he happily greeted. "Oh, hi, Manny. Why'd you ask me to meet you here?" she responded. He had called her on someone else's cell phone that he had 'borrowed' for a moment.

Manny looked happier than usual. Zoe was glad he was cheery, but it did make her nervous for a bit. The only reassurance that he was okay was his red eyes not showing any real pain. His eyes just showed some glimmer of scheming, a look she was all too familiar with. "I wanted to discuss another heist, but this time a bigger target," he hummed while taking a seat beside her, trying to look casual while they talked, relying on the arcade noise to drown them out. "Everyone around town's hearing that you went on a criminal capture spree the other day. Are you trying to set me up?" Zoe hesitantly spoke while looking to the floor, worried he might just be a full-fledged law abiding hero who was now trying to weed out Black Cuervo.

Manny reached his arm around her, pulling her closer to him. Zoe blushed, as feeling closer to his side made it feel like her body was calming itself. "I only did that to get the cops to trust me without Frida's Dad keeping watch for me. That way, can do a better heist…" Manny continued thinking the act of close relations would not only clear her mind of any doubts, but keep her trusting him. He doubted his ability to ever turn a friend in without any provocation, but his plan was to try and see if a big enough crime could get rid of his red eyes this time, since it was the only thing he could associate them to.

"What did you have in mind?" Zoe asked, believing he had at least deserved her trust right now. "I know I ruined your last robbery, but this time, we can steal twice as much from the bank," Manny elaborated, believing that the bank's defenses were already weaker due to her last attempt that gravely damaged the bank's security. "What do you say?" he awaited her approval. She thought about it for a minute. Their alter egos just might be able to do it with ease. "Let's go then," she agreed before gently brushing his hand off and standing up, ready to go with him. Manny got a grin before leaving the Mayan Arcade with her.

In less than an hour, the two found themselves on top of a rooftop. The all too familiar bank was nearby. Zoe was in her Black Cuervo outfit, keeping a bit of a close eye on the environment and on Manny, who was disguised as El Tigre at the moment. "So you damaged the cameras last time you came?" he repeated, wanting to make sure everything was straight while he peeked over the rooftop. "Unless my weapon doesn't work on electronics, yes," Zoe insisted, unsure if they had repaired them or not since the last attempt. She wasn't even sure of what the end goal was for this, but she knew it will likely make up for her somewhat failed robbery last time.

"Well, plan's simple. You break the vault open and I'll beat up the guards," Manny described the plan. Zoe's eyes glazed over boredly. "They probably hired more guards now," she spoke, thinking there may be more newly hired guards by now to help protect while things got repaired. The two began to descend from the rooftop, both disguised in their alter egos, and approached the bank's side. Zoe let one of her blasters appear from her wrist. "And here… we… go!" she fired a blast through the wall, cutting through it easily. Smoke and rubble burst from the newly opened hole, and an alarm instantly set off. The two entered inside calmly, seeing a lot of the people already on the floor like they had been panicked by a bombing.

Manny and Zoe entered inside, calm and relaxed, while most of the people still cowered on the floor. "…Something is wrong. I don't see any security," Zoe pointed out. There were civilians, but no guards. Just then, Manny saw something out of the corner of his eye, pulling Zoe out of the way, hearing the sounds of gunfire going off and bullets pelting the ground. "What is that?!" she shouted. Clearly it was the sound of a machine gun going off. "I don't know!" he shook his head, somewhat panicked, looking around the corner to see one officer in a swat uniform who was firing from the upper floor. Their security had been upgraded to just one guy who was ready to brutalize anyone that even caused remote threats to the bank.

Manny was thinking the police had decided to give the security to the bank in case they got robbed while weak. He just rubbed his head, knowing it wasn't going to be easy. He had to think on it. "Quick. Shoot the ceiling," he suddenly spurted out. Zoe didn't think now was the best time to try and query about the plan, so she aimed her wrist blaster up and fired, blasting a hole clean through to the second floor. Manny quickly pulled himself up and immediately began sneaking around while the guard was distracted, assuming the corner they were hiding in was still fully inhabited.

Manny got close enough to where the guard was reloading from around the corner. Manny leapt out from the side, lunging at the SWAT unit and digging one of his claws into his leg, forcing him onto his back. Zoe took it as the best time to start working on breaking into the safe, though she was unaware that her criminal assistant was beating up and brutalizing the guard, with just a smile like it was satisfying to him, but once the guard had fallen unconscious from heavy head trauma, Manny stopped, panting and staring at him. He stood up, heading back downstairs where the people were still hiding on the ground. "You okay?" Zoe worriedly asked while she was firing into the safe, just waiting for her blaster to pierce it. "Y…yeah… he just didn't go down easy," he lied, knowing the man had practically given up when his leg got impaled. The safe began to creak open as finally she broke through. The two entered inside to begin stealing the money.


	13. Apologies

Manny and Zoe found themselves sitting atop an all too familiar rooftop, both just resting with a couple bags of money around them, and both in their alter ego forms. "So… how'd that feel?" Zoe wondered how he enjoyed his first big robbery. He just was glad it was over. He did have another huge headache, but he sighed. "I don't know… it was fun, I guess. But I don't think it's really what I wanted to do with you," he described. It as an empty joy that had felt like a wasted effort. He just got out of his alternate ego form before beginning to scrounge up the money. "You can keep it all, since I broke your armour up that one time," he apologized for the past accident. Zoe stood up, changing out of her alternate ego as well. "Thanks for that, but then why did you ask me to help do this?" she responded, appreciative of the money, thinking it will tide her family over and keep her from needing a reason to break into any other stores for a while.

"To say I'm sorry. I... I know that you didn't exactly go evil on your own choice… and me shutting you out was probably the worst thing I could do to you," Manny started remembering the past more and more the longer he went on. It just added onto his guilt for the years he had ignored her beyond slight brawls against each other. "I don't know what I want to do. I was hoping that I'd find out by myself, but even with people's help, I still can't decide to be good or evil. Either way, I still want to be friends with you," he finished, looking depressed. His red eyes looked partially faded. Zoe slowly wrapped her arm around him before pulling him close. "I can't just forget it all, Manny…" she sighed. "But it's a start…" she added. Manny smiled, and before he knew it, his red eyes were gone, like sowing up a past bond had repaired it.

Manny did nothing but stand there, while Zoe gathered up the bags and began to leave the rooftop. The last interaction the two had was slight waves to each other, a dead friendship revived. He didn't know whether it was good or bad. All he knew was that it will just make it more of a pain for him the next time they inevitably fought. He approached the fire escape, knowing he had wasted part of today already by doing this task.

Manny was just walking through the streets. His eyes were currently brown again, and he couldn't be any happier by this. It felt great to be almost back to normal, though now he had to repair one severed nerve. Whatever it was that caused his blue eyes, it involved Frida, and he hated to admit that he had to bother her, but he thought it was best for later in the afternoon. He was still tired from the bank robbery.

Entering inside his home, Manny saw his father Rodolfo, who was smashing a familiar machine his grandfather had made. "Dad? Why are you smashing grandpapi's machine?" Manny hesitantly questioned before it got turned into small bits and pieces. "Well, your grandfather is working in the garage, but he tried to use this thing on me. Thankfully it only numbed my toes," he laughed, glad that he had gotten lucky this time around, or so he presumed, watching pieces of the device go flying from being crushed one too many times. Clearly any form of leg paralysis struck a nerve with Rodolfo.

Rodolfo wiped some sweat from his forehead. "So, Mijo. How was your day of being a hero?" he asked, having presumed he had been spending most of his day so far being a superhero. Manny was aware his father and grandfather had been especially pressing recently on which side to choose, and he was aware of his mental loss of heroic prowess or evil urges, and hoping the problem had been solved by now. He knew they were never going to let up on him unless he gave some kind of answer, at least. "Well… dad. I'm not a hero or a villain," he exclaimed. "I just think I need more time…" he added, doubting a few days spent on either could make a decision. His father patted his head. "You'll at least be experienced when you decide," Rodolfo laughed, confident that his son would choose the good side, no matter what. Yet, not one thing let him know what had been going on with Manny today. So he left the room to clean himself up.

Manny looked at the clock, seeing the time. "Frida's got another practice tonight…" he thought, at least recalling the original schedule if he remembered right. He decided to attend her practice, hoping that maybe spending time with her alone would cure his last odd personality problem, though reaching for the door knob, he noticed his hands; bruised scratched and scarred. They looked like someone had tied him down and tortured him, but he knew it was just the heavy abundance of violence that caused this. He put everything aside and just headed back out.


	14. The end

Manny had just arrived to a slightly old looking building that didn't look like anyone had lived in it for a while. He knew it as some weird abandoned home that people used for various things, since it was kind of lacking any other populace in the area. It was mostly parties that were set up here as of late. But he knew frida liked to have her band practice there. He entered inside where it was being illuminated mostly by the sunlight outside. He just made his way through, hearing the sound of creaking wood underneath his feet. The lack of pictures or any form of paint on the wall just made it feel creepier. When he came to the stairs, Manny could hear noises coming from down in the basement. He blinked, feeling another major headache starting to take place. "you shouldn't go down there" he heard, turning around. A green lookalike of him stood before him at the end of the hallway.

"What are you talking about? Am I going insane again?" Manny demanded from the green doppelganger, just wanting the duplicate to vanish, doubting his mind was fully cooperating with him right now. He approached his clone somewhat angrily. "Maybe… but if you go down there, all you'll be doing is distracting her from her future," the green clone continued while coming closer. "You really think he'd listen to ya?" another voice rung out. Manny's head and eyes shifted to the right. Behind him was a red clone of himself. "…this… this isn't happening…" Manny muttered, rubbing his eyes. But when he looked to his left, there was a blue clone who stood quiet, looking as depressed as it came. The red clone did appear angrier while the green one seemed cheerful.

"We aren't going to go away that easily. In the end, one of us is going to be stuck with you," his red duplicate mocked. Manny had to admit. He was worried his alter ego really did have a hand in his mental torture. "Just… what do you want?" Manny tried calmly asking, knowing it was pointless to escape them. There was nothing but silence. It took a few seconds, but he assumed the answer. "You want me to decide… what I want to be?" he repeated, not sure whether to pick between good or evil, aware of which colour represented. He doubted they were going to simply listen. He just hoped this wasn't going to be that violent. "Life becomes so much easier when you spend it saving other lives…" his green clone said, coming closer like they had intentionally surrounded him. "No way. It's a lot more fun just to hate the world and destroy it, one city at a time," his red clone laughed. He just held his head in agony.

Manny saw them stop, and he looked at his blue doppelganger. "And what is it you want?" the teenage boy requested. The blue clone looked calmer, nowhere near as interested in this conversation as he was. His blue clone looked up to him. "I don't want anything, honestly…" he answered, clearly sharing a similar mindset, just wanting more time to decide. Manny decided it was his best option of the three, to prefer the slightly depressed mindset.

Manny suddenly gasped for breath. His eyes darted open. He was lying in the basement, at least he thought. "Ooh… what happened?" he mumbled. "You fell down the steps," he heard, looking to his friend. "…F…Frida…" Manny gasped out. He was glad to see her friendly face. "Sorry for interrupting practice, Frida. I just… wanted to come talk," he admitted. It hurt a bit to stand though, thinking it must have been some crazy dream, but he didn't feel depressed at all. "Interrupt? It doesn't start for another twenty minutes. I was just getting everything set up," Frida reassured he hadn't messed up anything, like his paranoia had implied. Still, he was aware he might be disturbing her future dreams like his mind had argued with him in his dreams. "I wanted to apologize. For trying to ignore you. I thought it might damage your career, knowing someone like me," Manny stated. She could see his blue eyes, which were blue no more. He looked like his old self again.

"Manny. That's… crazy," Frida said, aware of how his day went with her father, but doubted he enjoyed it. She didn't want her career to make him feel inferior like that in some senses. If anything, she saw her friend and their past adventures together as a form of muse for her music. She came over and began to lead him back up the steps. "Heh… guess I was losing my mind over worrying too much," he joked to Frida, not wanting to admit the crimes with Zoe. As the day began to brighten up, Manny just wanted his friendship with Frida to stay strong, and hopefully last for their whole lives. All in all, he hoped his mental state was repaired. But he didn't know how that would turn out.

The End...


End file.
